Wayne Bank Warns of Fraudulent E-mail Purporting to be from Visa

Bill Davis, President and CEO, Wayne Bank (New Jersey, USA), is asking people to exercise extreme caution while replying to any electronic mail that talks of the recipient's banking and other personal information, as reported by The Pike County Courier on March 19, 2009.

Of the various e-mails being circulated, one presents official-looking information regarding fraud-fighting commitment of Visa, as well as a counterfeit "Case ID Number," while directing cardholders that they need to confirm their identification online so that they continue to use the bank's online services uninterrupted.

The e-mail, which tries to capture cardholder's sensitive information, is a fake. Moreover, it poses to be official by saying that the message relates to Visa's multiple security layers and other scam detection tools, along with supplying a notification that the recipient's account has gone under someone else's control with suspicious activity been detected. There is even a Case ID Number provided to the recipient to confirm his identity.

Additionally, the e-mail is sent without specifically targeting anyone or a particular location. Thus, it is vital for people to know that Wayne Bank does not send e-mails requesting customers to activate a web-link and furnish information.

Moreover, the bank advised that e-mail users should not click on links embedded in such unusual e-mails. Besides stealing the user's private information, the link might have a virus capable of damaging the computer.

The link makes a connection with a fraudulent website that solicits login details and other particulars regarding the user's account. With this practice, scammers try to collect information that they trade to other cyber criminals who in turn use it to commit ID fraud or to withdraw money from victims' accounts.

In the meantime, other phishing e-mails are also being circulated that use the logo of Internal Revenue Service along with photographs of the US President Obama and Vice-President Biden. These e-mails claim that they would make available to the recipients their share of money from the federal stimulus package, released recently while instructing them to follow a given website link to key in their financial details.

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» SPAMfighter News - 4/6/2009